OVERKILL: Bleach
by R.Eileen
Summary: Jenny Thorton, Sarah of Labyrinth, and Matsumoto Rangiku of Bleach have suddenly crossed paths. This can't be good...
1. Let's Start Again

Jenny Thorton's life was a considerable mess.

Here she was, another state, another life, so much far behind her that she hardly recognized herself looking in the mirror each morning. Or even waking out of bed...

Clinical professionals would take copious notes of her sleeping habits and think her depressed.

Well, in a way, they were right.

Jenny Thorton was depressed.

_If you feel that way, then maybe we shouldn't see each other anymore..._

Tom...

_Damn Tom Locke..._she thought in a rare moment of pure rage.

Now to understand how significant this is in and of itself, you must know: Jenny was a kind person without a hateful bone in her body. Even in kindergarten when some nasty bully had pulled on her blonde ponytail, she hadn't held a grudge. Even when her little brother had flushed her underwear down the toilet, she had hugged him to her and kissed his forehead. Even when people started looking at her and her small group of friends with wary attraction, whispering incoherant but undoubtedly unpleasant rumors behind their backs, or even to their faces, Jenny had understood why. Even when a shadow man of the Realm of Shadows had trapped them, tortured them, nearly kidnapped Jenny from the life and people she loved and killed her friend, Jenny still did not hate.

Sure, she has imprisoned the shadow man, but that was reflex talking. Her friends had been in danger. Tom had been in danger.

He had been right about something after all: survival of the fittest.

She may not have been the strongest out of everybody, not even close to the shadow man's strength by and inch, but that didn't mean she couldn't manipulate.

L_et him stay there for eternity,_ she had thought to herself. _Not even that, given he's probably immortal...but give him fifty, seventy, a hundred years to be locked away, and then we'll all be dead and he'll never be able to hurt us again..._

For three years, as far as Jenny Thorton knew, Julian the Shadow man had been locked away in a broom closet in a paper house, held captive by an ancient magical rune sketched into the door, until another unwitting victim stepped inside The Game and released him.

Three years was a long time to wait and wonder.

A long time for the worst damage to be done.

Summer's parents were grief stricken, and a few months after their daughter's death, had turned to the friends she had been playing with that night and laid full blame on their doorsteps. Hatemail began arriving in considerable droves in various shapes and surprises. Enough of them had driven her mother into a heart attack at forty seven years of age. Jenny's little brother was starting to feel the pressure at school of housing a suspected murderer.

And that was just the home life.

Dee was thrown out of school more times than anyone could count for fighting until the municipality decided to save tax dollars and had her permanently expelled. Audrey's problems started simple: first prescribed drugs by doctors, then those prescribed by the kids who hung out behind the dumpster during lunch. Michael sat by, helpless, and watched her self-destruct. Zach had run away from home. She hadn't heard from him in over a year.

Who knew what Tom had gotten himself involved in. He hardly looked at Jenny anymore.

Everything around her was spiraling out of control, and Jenny was at the center, unable to do much except watch and know the truth behind it all.

All things considered, she had handled everything fairly well.

As soon as high school graduation hype had died down, her parents had announced plans that were supposedly five years old to pack up and move to Southern State University, where Jenny had been accepted to college. A new change of scenery, they told her. Some place new, where they themselves planned to settle and retire. Jenny suspected that these predisposed plans had been prompted along by the uncountable bricks through the window accusing them of housing a murderer.

The move had been swift, without much hectic to-do throughout the neighborhood Jenny had grown up in. Even Joey was silent and seemingly unaffected having to say goodbye to all of his friends and his school.

One month later, her parents had settled in a small three bedroom Victorian style humble single floor home and Jenny was staring with a distant daze to her expression at the bare walls of her new dorm room. The first night she was thankful she hadn't been assigned a roommate. She cried herself to sleep at sometime around two a.m. The next night, she managed herself to the sniffles an hour later.

It was such an upside down view of what she had known, of everything she has planned. Granted she had never known one hundred percent for certain what it was she wanted to do or learn or where she wanted to go, but always always always, Tom Locke had been there with his soft hands, gentle eyes and warm embrace. White picket fence and 2.5 kids as follows. Dee would have moved in next door or rented the garage, as she had commonly joked. Michael and Aubrey would call every month about their various world wide excursions. Maybe Zach would have become successful with his art. Not so much in the public eye, but underground work would have done him just fine. Summer would have continued to brighten every room and she and Jenny would call each other and Saturdays to reminisce.

Tom and Zach were gone, and, if Jenny were realistic enough to admit it, perhaps for good.

Dee was rougher than ever, a rusty steel blade that snagged on anything to cross her the wrong way.

Aubrey and Michael were descending faster and faster as years went on.

Summer was still dead.

And Jenny was still alive, in the world of the living to stare at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, to mourn her friend, everything that should have been, and hate herself because she was the one who had found The Game, she was the one Julian had wanted, she had been the one able to end it all in one moment, with one simple act, and maybe Summer would still be alive to smile with her family again.

Jenny had been stubborn. Jenny had refused to give in to coldness and darkness and evil.

Jenny had freed herself and the others.

Summer had paid the price.

Watching her reflection, she could swear she saw her heart sinking into her stomach and the hateful fire in her eyes doused by sorrow.

In the distance, the large clock in the main courtyard chimed nine o'clock in the morning. Her first class was at nine twenty sharp.

Almost roboticaly, she grabbed a scrunchy on the rim of the sink and yanked back the wild bush on her head that people called hair and snapped it into place (the way Tom liked it), threw on the same pair of jeans she wore the other day and a fresh sweater from her closet. Moments later she had brushed her teeth and packed her bag and stepped out the door to the watchful eye of a white owl perched in the sycamore outside her window.

* * *

_First things first, I don't own anything. I don't own Forbidden Game (L.J. Smith does), Labyrinth or the characters in it (Jim Henson and Lord Lucas do), or any of the characters or monsters from Bleach (that's Kubo Tite). The only thing I own is the insane plot that has somehow merged these three worlds together in a thing I should call overkill. _

_Also, this thing is coming along to me at a very slow, comfortable pace_. _I know what's **going **to happen, I just need to **make **it happen. It'll take some time, so please be patient._

_And since I don't want to give too much else away, I'm going to shut it..._

_PS for Bleach fans: we get to see shinigami come chpt 4. Can you hold out until then????? _


	2. Where's You Get Those Peepers?

The class was Women in History. It should have been called Class Taught By Crazy Feminist Lady.

Jenny was doing fine in the class (she was a woman, after all), but 30 percent of the grade was based on attendance for showing up and listening to this woman rant and rave on the evil, oppressive system that was Man. And since she already had an A in the bag thanks to her gender, there was nothing to do but sit back and zone into nothingness. If she had been the old Jenny, she would have at least tried.

Jenny was tired of trying.

She rested her head against her fist and sat there silently while the teacher who's name she'd long forgotten droned on and on how men kept women from domination of Utopian society. Evil men this and evil men that.

Jenny had to snicker to herself. This woman had no idea the concept of an evil man.

Not even a real man, because no human was that cruel.

That had to be it. Julian had often tried to tell her how cruel the worlds, all nine of them apparently, could be, with no apathy for human emotion or suffering. Even humans, he had tried to convince her, were just as capricious. Jenny had been brave and valiant and said no in the face of his evil, even as he tortured her friends through their own private hells and buried Summer deep within her own.

No man was capable of that. A Shadow Man was.

Try as he might to convince her, Jenny had reached one conclusion: no one could even come close to Julian's level of cruel.

That was the way to think of him, Jenny cheered herself. A bad man, a boogie man, the Lex Luthor to her Superman, Joker to her Batman. Forget the way he had made her blood sing through a simple kiss or taken her breath away with the hunger in his blue, blue eyes. Remember how he had taunted them, chased them, tried to steal her away from Tom and Dee and the life she knew, and the way his kin had swallowed her grandfather whole...

Jenny shut her eyes away at the thought.

That was the worse thing: knowing she had brought this all on herself by opening that damn door.

Pandora's box indeed.

A prickling sensation at the back of her neck brought her back to the present. Frowning, she touched her nape, only to find the problem was the scrunchy had come lose and a twisted knot of her hair was hanging almost to her shoulders. Frustrated, she snagged the scrunchy from her hair and absently ran her fingers through the strands to straighten it out. It was ridiculous how long her hair had gotten. She couldn't style it, do anything with it anymore. She was probably due for a haircut and her mother would automatically agree, anything to get a hint of the old daughter she'd used to have back.

Fixing the scrunchy now around her wrist, Jenny turned to one of her favorite distractions in class: it was a girl seated in the row of desks directly in front of her, a little to the right. She had jet black hair with a streak of red, heavily outlined eyes, fishnets on her arms and high heels strapped to her feet and up her calfs. Jenny didn't know her name, but she knew the girl was an artist, at least someone who liked to draw, and spent her time doodling out several small versions of various anime characters, classmates, and even teachers. It was an interesting process, watching the figures come to life from the girl's pencil, and Jenny remembered how it was when Zach was setting up a scene to photograph; that mysterious eye for detail, that gift to see things normal people couldn't, something only he could adjust and capture. It was a form of nostalgia, Jenny knew, but Zach had never really been too much into drawing, so it didn't depress her that much. Besides, sometimes the girl managed some really interesting character depictions.

Today she was into something a little different. In her right hand was a black ink pen. Not unusual, since she often would outline her pencil drawings with the same pen. But in her left were a few various colored pencils, and Jenny had never seen her work with color before.

Whatever she was doing now, she was very intent on it. Jenny strained her neck to watch.

The girl was outlining and inking two symmetrical shapes, things that reminded Jenny of the ink blot tests utilized by psychiatrists. She was careful with her lines, shading very precisely, extending the pointed edges of some shapes ever so slightly. The way her hand was moving, step by step over the blank sheet before applying the line, it was clear she had a particular idea and look.

In the background, the feminist nazi went on.

Now satisfied with the pen, the girl switched the colored pencils. She started with a deep blue, applying it to two areas on the paper, pressing lightly, then a little more heavily. She traded that one for a white pencil, pressing it over the blue, smudging the two colors together. When she finished with that, she went for another blue pencil, this one lighter, much lighter, and went through much the same process. She finished and clearly wasn't satisfied. She went back to the dark blue, back to the white, and light blue. She repeated this process close to four times and Jenny had to frown, wondering what she was so focused on. The girl's chair was tilted a little away from her than normal, so she couldn't see nearly as well as...

"Next class, be prepared for a quiz on the Second Wave of feminism and the main names that led the wave!"

Jenny stretched her arms over her head, grateful to be done. When she finally stood, the girl had already slapped her books shut and left. Pouting slightly, Jenny hoped maybe she would see a finished product tomorrow.

She stood from her desk only to hear something crunch under her heel. She glanced down. It was a loose leaf sheet of paper that looked like the kind the girl often used to doodle on. Must have been one of her drawings, Jenny figured as she bent over and picked it up. A glance at the image on the front would confirm it and then she would just return it to her the next time they had class.

She turned the paper over.

She almost screamed.

* * *

Jenny was curled in on herself, perched on the corner on her dormroom bed, staring wildly at the sheet of paper she had left in the middle of her floor, afraid to touch it again. Though what in the world had ever made her carry it all the way here, she would never know, especially when she couldn't look at the thing without her heart racing. 

In dramatic detail and color, the unnamed girl in Jenny's class had replicated Julian's eyes.

Jenny had always known the girl was good, but the exact detail implemented in this drawing left Jenny breathless. Everything to Julian's incredibly long lashes to the impossible blue of his eyes to the slight knowing arrogance of his brow was there. The eyes even seemed to watch her with that same patient hunger he had displayed in the More Games store; just waiting, waiting to pounce, waiting for them to open The Game, take the oath, and the clock to strike nine.

Jenny pressed the back of her fist to her mouth, afraid she was going to throw up.

She had to get rid of it. Like the cardboard house after she and the other's had to escape, she would have to destroy it. She had to stop it now, before it got worse, before he found his way out of the house and back to the real world...back to her.

With complete disregard for the hand that had shaped and colored the drawing, Jenny stood and snatched the piece from the floor, went to her trash can and deftly ripped the masterpiece in two. She crumpled the two sides into tights balls and tossed each one in the bin.

A full second afterwards, a heavy knot of regret twisted in her gut.

"Damn," she muttered. It hadn't been hers in the first place to dispose of. That poor girl and her various works, Jenny knew she treasured each one and was probably frantically searching for this piece. Jenny would have to apologize, maybe make up something like she stepped on it and shredded it. Well, it was a partial truth anyway.

There was a hard knock at the door.

Sighing, Jenny answered, surprised to find a UPS man. "Jenny Thorton?"

"Yes?"

"Sign here."

He left soon after, and Jenny was left with a box addressed to her with her parent's new address in the upper left hand corner. It seemed this was their new hobby, sending her various odds and ends as surprise gifts. And as dark as Jenny had been lately, she did have to admit that these were just the sort of thing to brighten her mood. She couldn't help but smile at the sudden rush of love, knowing there was someone out there who still cared about Jenny Thorton.

She sat cross legged on her bed, creepy drawing forgotten, and sliced open the brown tape to see what was inside. There was of course the expected letter from her mother, another from Joey, and a check from her father.

The essentials.

She opened Joey's first since she often worried about him. Her little brother had been close to unresponsive during the whole sudden move, and Jenny fretted that he would become a smaller version of herself; withdrawn, depressed, yearning for the past and the way things were. He was so young, he might come to resent their parents for the upheaval, and resort to acting out to vent his frustration. She should have had more faith in him, because good ole Joey Thorton was anything but breakable.

His smiles to his older sister had remained kind and sincere. She remembered how the few times before they'd moved, Joey'd have a mysterious cut or bruise he'd wave off as clumsiness on the playground. Come to find out he had "beaten the snot" out of a few rough kids who dared to say something nasty about his older sister. He hadn't spoken much while they packed up the house, but a week after being there, he gushed about the pretty brunette who sat behind him with the pretty purple shoes. It was comforting to see he had adjusted so well, and reading his letter almost had her crying at his energetic voice. She really should call sometime.

The check from her father was accompanied by a quick cute card with a kitten resembling the old mangy thing she had adopted sleeping in a pot of daisies. _Love you much_, he had written. _Good luck with exams!_

Then was the letter from her mother, and the rectangular package it was taped to.

_We went shopping at a local flea market last week. I found this little antique and thought of you. Remember how you used to love goblins when you were three? And you wore out our VHS of Gremlins? And you wanted to go to the local animal rescue center to see if you could adopt one? I hope this takes you back like it did me._

_Hugs and kisses, Mom_

Goblins?

Jenny vaguely could recall this obsession her mother wrote of. She definitely remembered the tape of Gremlins, but adopting one? Then again, it did sound like something she would do...

Turning her attention now to the package, she tore at the seams until she was holding a tiny red leather book in her hand with worn edges and a golden title.

_The Labyrinth._

She ran her fingers over the fine title and felt a thrill go through her, something warm and electric. The antiquity of it fascinated her. The feel of the pages over the pad of her thumb was hypnotic. There was something about it; the lack of an author, maybe, or the missing synopsis to give her a hint of the story. Not like the pure white box of The Game had fascinated her. This was something different, much warmer and clear and childlike.

Hadn't her mother said something about goblins?

She turned open the front flap and began to read.

* * *

She glanced up once that night to look at the clock and found it had already passed six, and she had had a class at five forty five. If she had run, she could have slid by with an overslept excuse, but was too engrossed to leave just yet. She could miss this one class and borrow notes from someone next week. 

The book wasn't long, less than two hundred and fifty pages, but it still took her awhile to keep the pages going. She was a slow reader, but retained every little detail like a sponge: the beautiful young princess, the wicked stepmother, the wished away child and the appearance of the Goblin King. She read past the first confrontation, the challenge of the Labyrinth maze and the thirteen hour time limit. She held her breath through the first few steps inside the Labyrinth, cheered the princess as she tamed several wild beasts of the magical wilderness, resisted the Goblin King's distractions, gasped the audacity of the drugged peach. She could have sworn she heard music when the Goblin King whirled the princess away in a voracious party of masked figures, or heard something break when the princess broke free of the wicked illusion.

Now the princess was ascending the stairs, higher and higher and higher, to the most highest tower where she would at last face off against her adversary and Jenny found herself chanting the princess' words aloud.

"Give me the child...," she whispered, hypnotized by the words as they appeared on the page. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered..."

Outside, a heavy gust of wind blew, disturbing the dark leaves and limbs of the sycamore outside her window.

"...I have fought my way here to the castle, beyond the Goblin City..."

The dark winds brushes the few clouds in the sky away. The full moon was big and bright in the sky.

"..to take back the child you have stolen."

Something tapped at her window. She gasped and jumped up. She almost smacked herself when she realized it was just the sycamore. She turned back to the book.

"For my will is as strong as yours..."

The sycamore now scratched at her window.

"...and my kingdom is as great..."

The wind must have been picking up, because the scratching was coming harder now.

"You have no--"

Something crashed in her bathroom and Jenny froze, suddenly realizing that the scratching hadn't come from the window at all but from inside the dorm room...

Heart racing, she stood and put the book to one side, flat open so that she could remember her place. There was only one lamp on in the room, and the moonlight outside wasn't helping. She was seeing moving shadows everywhere. Something was skittering along her bathroom floor. Swallowing, she lunged at the bathroom door and flung it open.

Sitting in the middle of her light green bath rug with a bar of soap in one mouth, her toothbrush in one overly large ear and shampoo dripping down its bald scaly head was exactly the kind of goblin that was described in the book. It look at her and sqwaked.

Jenny let out a little yell and slammed the door shut.

_I've lost it._

She whirled around only to a find about a dozen or so more of those little creaatures littered all across her room with their gnashing little teeth and beaks and webbed hands and feet and paws and greasy fingers clutching to all of her personal belongings. One was munching on the packaging nuggets of the package her family had sent. Another was slobbering on the empty envelopes. A particularly nasty looking larger goblin was slamming open and close her dresser drawers, throwing her shirts on the floor and at her. They snarled and gnashed and cackled at her. Three ran across her feet and she screamed. Amused by her terror, they laughed again.

_I've done myself in_, she thought with surprising clarity. _That picture, that book, my sanity is done for and they're going to lock me in a padded room until my teeth rot._

And because she was so convinced she had lost it, she assumed that whoever was knocking at the door was another figment of her imagination.

"Jenny Thorton? Jenny Thorton, are you in there?"

She didn't recognize the people talking. She had to be losing it.

"Jenny Thorton, are you there?"

"No," she answered with a slight hysteria to her voice. "I'm seeing goblins."

Silence, a few hushed whispers, then a rattling at her doorknob and the door itself flew open.

Like an avenging angel, in flew a woman maybe a year or two older than Jenny, and inch or two taller thanks to the plain grey heels she wore, waving a small bottle about. Whoever she was, whatever she was holding, the goblins took one look at her, acked in terror, then turned and fled back into the shadows, bleeding out and away like they had never existed.

_I've lost my good mind_, Jenny continued to think, sinking to the floor in what might have been relief.

She looked up, figuring she should be able to describe the woman to the good doctors before they doped her up on anti-psychotics. The stranger, scanning the room for anymore of the creepy crawlies, was beautiful in a simple, plain Jane fashion. Her hair was the color of coffee, long, down to her waist and flowing. She wore a small barrette to one side. Her eyes were sharp and green, darker than Jenny's. She had on a pressed business jacket, dark grey in color, matching knee length skirt, with a white blouse underneath and neat nude colored hose. The heels were practical, soft looking.

When she was satisfied there were no more things hiding under the bed, she turned to Jenny.

"Jenny Thorton?"

"Yes?"

"I'm Sarah." She held out a hand. "We need to talk."

Jenny took the hand, found it solid beneath her own. Maybe she wasn't going crazy after all...

* * *

_First things first, I don't own anything. I don't own Forbidden Game (L.J. Smith does), Labyrinth or the characters in it (Jim Henson and Lord Lucas do), or any of the characters or monsters from Bleach (that's Kubo Tite). The only thing I own is the insane plot that has somehow merged these three worlds together in a thing I should call overkill._

_Damn this chapter was a bitch to write under a time limit, but here it is, and the story comes along nicely..._

_I'm having fun, aren't you: ) _


	3. Where Two Roads Cross

The woman was still holding the little bottle in one hand when Jenny got to her feet. She looked at it and frowned.

"Magical sea salt," the woman explained. "For protection circles against witches and warding of the little beasties."

Okay, so maybe Jenny hadn't gone batshit crazy, and she figured that was good. But if that was the case, where had all the gremlins come and gone to? Who was the dark haired woman? And why was the Dean of the university standing there talking to her like they were old business partners?

"...sensed the shift in the paranormal air here. I thought you had strict orders to screen all packages that were sent to campus grounds since you had Thorton enrolled?"

"Apparently UPS didn't get the memo."

"Even if the men in brown suits didn't have the signed release form, you should have known better and been keeping an eye on things."

Jenny blinked, staring back and forth between the two like she was watching a tennis match.

"You know this means I have authority to remove her from the grounds."

"And what do I tell her family?"

"Tell them one of the classes had an extended field trip, last minute, a worthy learning opportunity. You have power and privilege on your side, use it. In the meantime, Thorton leaves with me immediately before anything else otherworldly tries to sneak in here and proceeds to gobble up your student body."

"Yes, I suppose that wouldn't do well for funding..."

The woman with brown hair (_Sarah_, Jenny had to remind herself) seemed unamused by the Dean's utter lack of chagrin. She turned and stepped back into Jenny's room, speaking directly to Jenny. "Miss Thorton, I have to ask that you put on a pair of shoes, grab a few personals and come with me. It's not safe for you anymore on this campus."

_Not safe...? _"Not safe from what?" she squeaked out.

"What you just saw and worse out there. Please, don't make me have to force you."

And what exactly would this woman define as force?

But without much resistance or complaint, Jenny grabbed her bookbag, slipped on a pair of flats, tugged on her university sweater and shoved in the bag the letters from her family, her cellphone, wallet, photo album and, almost vacantly, the little red leather book.

Sarah was finishing up with the Dean, handing him a slip of paper that looked official. She turned back around when she saw Jenny step out of her dorm to her side. "Ready?"

"Can you please tell me what's going on?"

"When we're off campus." She took hold of Jenny's wrist and tugged. "I'll call you later," she told the Dean. "Cleaners should come by tomorrow morning to sniff around and reset the perimeter."

The Dean gave her what looked like an obnoxious salute. Jenny frowned at what could make a school official so non-chalant about his blatant lazy attitude, but didn't have much time to ponder as the dark haired woman, still holding her wrist, pulling her away down the dorm hallway, straight out the door into the cool night air to a little black sedan waiting in the parking lot.

"Inside," Sarah ordered, letting go of her wrist as she made her way to the driver's side.

Jenny stood there, clutching her bag to her chest, when a sudden rush of common sense gave her reason to straighten up and demand an explanation.

"Just hold on," she started, relieved that she sounded alot stronger than she felt. "How do I know you're really here to help me? What happened to me and why are you taking me away? How do I know to trust you? How do I know you're not another Shadow Man?"

The girl, halfway into her car, leaned her arm against the top of her car, staring Jenny straight in the eye. "Tell me: with your experience, do I look like a Shadow Man?"

Jenny swallowed. "Well, no, but..." She froze, the blood rushing in her ears. "How do you...?"

"Get in the car. We need to put a decent distant between ourselves and here before I'm certain we're safe to talk. And since I've been driving for six hours anyway, we'll find a 24-hour diner that serves coffee and I'll answer all of your questions. Until then, you can decided whether you want to trust me or not." With that, Sarah slid into the drivers seat, started the car.

Jenny swallowed, clutching the bag tighter to her chest, remembered the goblins crawling over her room, laughing at her. She remembered the torn drawing of Julian's eyes resting in her waste basket. Now Jenny wasn't normally a spiritual person (she left that for people like Dee's grandmother) but if there was one thing she had learned from her time in the paper house, it was when to recognize that bad things were imminent.

Steeling herself, she opened the car door and slipped inside.

Better to trust a stranger than the evil she knew.

* * *

The two didn't speak for the nearly two hours it took them to find a Double T diner on the side of the road. Wordlessly, Sarah turned the car into the parking lot and stepped out. Jenny followed, still clutching her bag. Luckily, the diner was fairly empty and it was easy for them to get a seat in the farthest corner in the back. Sarah ordered two cups of coffee for herself and a cup of soup. Jenny ordered water and, when her stomach rumbled, also asked for the soup. Once the waitress trotted off, Sarah leaned back and crossed her arms, watching Jenny for the questions she knew were coming. 

Jenny sighed and lifted her eyes. "Where do I even start?" she whispered, overwhelmed.

Sarah nodded shortly. "I'll start with myself, how about that?"

Jenny looked back down.

"I come from a private organization that deals with the containment of magical beings and sources. Our main job is to see to it that the natural balance between the Other realms and our human one remains intact. At this point, I don't think I have to explain that there are other powers beyond human comprehension that work behind the veil of the worlds?"

_Julian..._

"Now normally, beings from these other realms understand their place and their purpose. They _can _manipulate little things here and there, setting stones so you trip or flashes of illusions in front of your eye (it's what they do for amusement, after all), but they can't pierce the veil between worlds unless called, either by spells or by their true names, that's understood. But sometimes, you come across those beings that would sooner steal their way into our existence rather than follow the rules. Those are the creatures and powers that cause us problems."

"What do they want?"

"What any other magical being wants: more power, more magic."

"So what happened tonight? And how did you find me?"

"My organization and it's people always keep careful track of those who have come into contact with the between worlds and Other powers. I'm not at liberty to say how we know how to find you, but we have our ways. And yes, even at this moment, there are agents keeping an eye on those friends who were with you that night."

The waitress came with their drinks and they fell silent for a moment while she distributed the cups.

"So you know about Julian..." Jenny said, fingering the rim of her glass.

Sarah nodded, adding sugar and cream to her coffee, stirring ideally. "There is little the organization doesn't know about the Shadow Men. That's why we've had our eye on you. Nowhere in recorded history has a Shadow Man ever tried to steal human out of love." She glanced up from the top of her cup as she sipped.

Jenny didn't reply.

"Anyway, with the Shadow Man contained and the Game stolen, not only was our sole purpose to keep an eye on you to make sure he didn't reappear to take you away again, but whenever a human crosses between worlds, by force or otherwise willingly, when and if they return to this realm, they always bring with them an ounce of magic from the Other world. That's why those with certain experiences involving fairies and goblins and Shadow Men are left a little more sensitive than the rest of the populace. It's easier to become more susceptible and aware of the Other's surrounding the human world."

"But those...Other's don't interfere."

"Which is why they are allowed to roam as freely as they do. The stronger Others, those who cause mischief and steal away children, those whose magics are too strong or their intentions too clouded and wayward, those are the ones held aside by the veil. But sometimes, like tonight, there is a break in the veil: when beings from beyond work their way in without proper invitation or being called. It's a loophole effect, but still illegal, and still something we look to stop before it dissolves into a problem of the veil eroding away."

Jenny picked up her water to take a sip, then stopped and frowned. "What did I do that gave them the loophole?"

"You read aloud from that book. Because it is the kind of book it is, reading aloud _does _pierce the veil, but doesn't give the goblins proper invitation. I wouldn't have been here if you had read the right phrase to call the goblins here."

Like clockwork, Jenny began, "I wish the--"

In a flash, Sarah had stood, reached across the table and slapped her hand over Jenny's mouth so hard, her cheeks stung. Sarah's evergreen eyes were wide with terror, her face drawn and white with her mouth set in a fine line.

"Don't," she ground out. "Ever. _Ever_--say that phrase aloud."

Swallowing, Jenny nodded and Sarah slowly retracted back into her seat. The waitress arrived again, this time with their soups, her beady eyes glancing back and forth between the two of them with greedy interest. The two girls said nothing and avoided her prodding expression. The waitress sulked away and still the girls were silent, the atmosphere suddenly awkward.

Downing the rest of her first cup of coffee, Sarah turned to the second cup. "I apologize," she said blandly. "But those words...are trouble."

"Like runes," Jenny muttered, poking at her soup, suddenly not as hungry but feeding herself all the same.

"Right."

"So I caused a loophole, and the goblins came...why?"

"Like I said: humans that have had outside contact with the Other realm, when they come back, carry some magic back with them; inadvertently of course, but its there. If there were a creature with enough ambition, enough drive to further their own power in the Other realm, they could in theory harvest that magic carried by humans who had been Touched beyond the veil. They kill you, swallow the magic, and become more powerful."

"Who, though?"

"I'm hoping that having you nearby will answer that question for me. Think of it as your own personal bodyguard."

"So where are we going?"

"Away. It'll just be for a few days. We thought we had properly swept the area before you started college, but apparently something went wrong if that book was able to still get through. My organization is going to send in another Cleaning team and a Sweeper to go over the campus again. Once they call and let me know that it's all clear and wards are reset, I'll take you back and you can go on with your life knowing you have a guardian angel."

_Better than a guardian shadow... _

* * *

_Jenny remembered that door all too well: the plain wooden piece with the red X in the center, one line longer than the other. _

_**Nauthiz.**_

_But the door was still closed shut. The room looked exactly the same like the last time she'd seen it: the replica books and tokens that her grandfather had kept in his real basement hung exactly where they had been when she was five years old down to the little couch where Julian had snuggled with her minutes before the 6:11 sunrise and kissed her breathless. _

_She shuddered at the memory, suddenly cold rather than warm like she had been dozing in the car with Sarah at the wheel. _

_The door was still locked, but the symbol of Nauthiz (containment) was glowing bright red. _

_Julian...?_

_**...shshshshshshshshshshsh...**_

_Maybe it was the radio. The noise, whatever it was, sounded a little foggy. _

_**...a--ishishishishish... **_

_Jenny stepped closer, pressing her hands to the flat of the wood. _

_Vanished? No, the vowel didn't sound right... _

_What was that?_

_She leaned in, pressing her ear to the door, straining to hear._

**_...a--ishishishishishishish..._**

_ No, she realized. No vanished. Longer, more drawn out..._

**_...faaaaaaamisssssssshed..._**

_"All the better to **eat **you with, my dear..." _

_Julian's voice, right at her ear._

_She threw herself back, ready to scream, but out of breath, her blood running cold, and Nauthiz on the door had turned from red to a bright bright blue... _

* * *

...and Jenny started awake just as Sarah slammed on the brakes and the car lurched and swung and spun in the middle of the road...

Outside, a monster was screaming.

* * *

_First things first, I don't own anything. I don't own Forbidden Game (L.J. Smith does), Labyrinth or the characters in it (Jim Henson and Lord Lucas do), or any of the characters or monsters from Bleach (that's Kubo Tite). The only thing I own is the insane plot that has somehow merged these three worlds together in a thing I should call overkill._

_Wow...this happened faster than I thought..._

_Oh well. Back to the drawing board... _


	4. Who Ya Gonna Call?

Jenny had never seen or heard anything so terrible in her life.

Whatever it was was huge. She couldn't properly classify it because it was semi transparent and the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. She caught glimpses here and there of enormous hands, discolored flesh, too long bent legs and some sort of fur running down the monster's back. But what was most hideous of all was the face: It was a mask, wider than the shoulders, bone-like, with an insane smile hugging the lower portion, displaying rows of sharp teeth. The eyes behind the mask were full of malicious intent.

The teeth parted and the monster emitted the most horrible scream/roar she had ever heard, even worse than listening to Summer being buried under piles of garbage.

"_What is that thing?!_" she screamed at Sarah, slapping her hands over her ears.

"Hollow!" Sarah shouted, her expression fierce and horrified at the same time. "A goddamn fucking _Hollow_!"

The thing screamed at them again. Sarah gunned the engine and the tires of the car squealed. The little sedan was off like a rocket between the legs of the Hollow, but the thing immediately gave chase, bounding after them like they were a ball and it was a giant puppy looking to play.

The two girls were breathing heavily, hearts racing. Jenny was half turned in her seat, watching the thing gain, silently urging Sarah faster while the brunette was talking out loud to herself, hitting the accelerator as hard as she could.

"Hollow...fucking Hollow...what the _fuck _is a Hollow doing here..."

"What in the world is a Hollow?!" Jenny demanded, half-hysterical.

"A bad spirit, a demon, a human soul on heroin or ecstasy, _pick one_!"

"Is it after me?"

"It shouldn't be! We shouldn't even be registering on it's radar!"

Something hit the car and the vehicle lurched, throwing the two girls forward. Jenny slammed into the dash and Sarah knocked her head against the steering wheel. Growling, she glanced over her shoulder and thought for a moment her eyes would pop out of the top of her head.

She'd forgotten the name, but she knew Hollow's weren't supposed to have swords like that.

"Jenny! My purse, there's a phone!"

The blonde unsnapped her seatbelt and flung into the backseat where she had last seen the leather Chanel shoulder purse. She found it on the passenger side and, despite the bumpy ride, managed to locate the cellphone.

"Got it!"

"Scroll through and find the name Lucas and hit 'dial'!"

While Jenny occupied herself with that, Sarah gunned the engine a little more and had their speed pushing ninety-ninety five miles and hour with the Hollow still at a steady pace behind them. They were on a two lane highway in the middle of a very flat landscape whose only scenery were the various flattops dotting the horizon, a coyote here and there behind some bushes, and the telephone poles and wires that looked like they hadn't seen maintenance since the turn of the century. Sarah dared to hope that despite this crazy cat and mouse chase, their pursuit could be performed without the interference of anyone normal.

Then she saw the black and white headed in their direction from the opposite lane and remembered: she was on some all-might shit list, after all.

Of course, the police cruiser did a one-eighty and came squealing after them, lights blaring and siren whistling away.

Poor soul never saw it coming, literally.

Irritated that something was in its way, The Hollow swiped with one arm like any person would at an annoying fly. The police cruiser went toppling into a ditch, upside down, windows crashing, and the Hollow kept on chasing.

"It's ringing! He's answered!"

"Get up here and take the wheel!"

It was alot of awkward maneuvering, especially when trying to keep up the speed of the car, but while Jenny finally got her hands on the wheel and her foot on the pedal, Sarah was shouting over the phone, simultaneously drawing a gun from under her jacket.

"Lucas! You lock in on my position and send goddamn _shinigami_ right now! Why? _Why?! _Because there's a damn Hollow with a big ass sword on my tail, that's why!" She unclicked the safety mechanism, leaned out the passenger side window, firing off a few shots that left sparks along the Hollow's body. They were bullets blessed by a Mage and given spiritual markings of damage, but the Hollow brushed them off the same way he had the cop.

Even worse, it seemed the Hollow was also gaining.

"Jenny! Hit it!"

"I can't!" she cried, looking at the dash like the answer was written and hidden somewhere. "I think that last hit jarred something! I can't go any faster!"

The Hollow hit the vehicle again, and the sedan spun wildly. Jenny and Sarah screamed, thrown in their seats and flung back with the intensity of the whirling. With momentum, the vehicle rolled onto it's side and sparked to a stop several hundred yards away. The interior of the car had filled with smoke. Jenny coughed and gagged. Sarah, choking, was still yelling on the phone.

"...No, I'm not okay...thing's trashed my car..."

Outside, the Hollow screamed again.

Sarah kicked straight up, knocking open the passenger door with her heels, and slipped out as fast as she could, reaching back over her shoulder to grab Jenny' shirt collar; she grunted and lifted in one heave, leaning them both on the car door frame. A dark shadow fell over them. Sarah and Jenny glanced up as the Hollow advanced, lifting the massive sword over his head. Without any warning, Jenny was pushed over and out of the car. She was still hacking as Sarah stumbled away, quickly dragging Jenny along. The force of the large blade tearing through the vehicle threw them down, scrapping their palms and knees.

There was a massive groan as the Hollow lifted the sword back up and the car slid from the blade, slamming to pieces on the pavement.

Sarah took aim, squinting, and shot off a round right in the things eye.

It was a good shot, and the creature reared back, roaring hideously. She scooted back, sitting up, took aim again, when she heard the triumphant cry.

"_Nobiro, Hōzukimaru!_"

A dark shadow flew over them; a man dressed all in black wielding a dangerous long staff who flew into the face of the giant and met it blade for blade.

"_Sake,__ Fuji-Kujaku!_"

Another man appeared now, also in black with a dramatic eyebrow and a three pronged curved weapon in one hand. He also leaped into action, attacking at the monster's knees while his counterpart had at it right with the Hollow. The two were fierce in their attack, driving the creature backwards, giving Sarah enough time to drag herself to her feet. Jenny wiped the soot from her eyes and gaped wildly at the sight of the two airborne strangers.

It was over sooner than she thought it would be: in two quick strikes the opponent with the staff had pierced the mask, cracking it straight down the middle. Another roar of utter pain and rage ripped the sky. The already transparent spirit began dissolving right before Jenny's eyes, crumbling into nothing, until all that remained was the echoes of the terrible roar.

The two men landed on their feet, regular long steel swords pressed to their side and bloodthirsty grins plastered to their faces.

"Someone call for _shinigami_?"

* * *

"There's a cop back there who got involved. You might want to check and make sure he's all right." 

The bald _shinigami_, who had introduced himself as Madarame Ikkaku, nodded, his sword now settled easily over his shoulders as he and Sarah ironed out the details of the scenario. "We'll get someone down here to take care of his memory. In the meantime, you might wanna grab what you need from the...remnants of your car? We saw a room and board place not too far down this road."

Jenny was once again speechless, standing to one side as Sarah handled everything with quick professional manners. She wasn't shaking anymore, which was good, but one the other hand she had become almost totally numb with shock. First freaky drawings, then goblins, a strange woman from a secret CIA-like organization designed to keep magical beings from eating her, and now a skeleton wearing monster defeated by two odd men dressed in black and carrying swords that seemed to morph at will. It was a good thing she'd already had the shock of her life three years ago, or something like this would have sent her screaming from the sight, pulling at her own hair.

The only one who hadn't spoken otherwise was Madarame's friend, whoever he was, with his weird eyebrow and perfect black hair. He was standing opposite of Madarame like she was of Sarah, one hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword at his hip. Strangest of all, he seemed to be _glowering _at her...

His oddly colored eyes were narrowed ever so slightly, and he seemed to be gnawing on his lower lip in irritation. "_Utzukushi_..."

Sarah returned from the wreckage of the car, carrying with her a small suitcase and her purse. On her shoulder she had Jenny's bag. "We'll get going now, if that's all right with you."

Madarame snorted, sneering in what looked like a hospitable, maybe happy fashion. "Why would you ask me, bitch?"

Sarah gave him a tilted smile. "Good to see you again, Pachinko-head."

"O-Oi!" he snapped, his whole face, and head, turning bright red.

"We'll be going now," she said sweetly, waving good-bye and putting an arm on Jenny's shoulder, steering her away and down the road. "Say hi to your division for me!"

* * *

"So now you know what _shinigami _and Hollows do." 

Jenny glanced over at Sarah as they kept walking down the barren road. "_Shinigami_?"

"The guys in black."

"Oh." Jenny kicked a pebble out of her way. "One of them was giving me a weird look."

"_Yumichika_. Don't mind him. He thinks you're pretty, and he doesn't like things prettier than him." The way Sarah spoke, so knowingly and calmly about things...Jenny felt ridiculous not knowing half of the things she did.

"Now, bear with me for a moment, because I'm not a great expert on this myself.

"_Shinigami _translates roughly into death god, but...try not to think of them as _gods_, but more like guiding spirits, guardian angels if you like, someone who guides those who miss the white light tunnel back to the afterlife where we belong. They're natives of Japan, but its not uncommon to see them working all over the world, nor is it so uncommon to see Hollows in just as many places.

"Hollows are those spirits that have lingered too long after missing the tunnel of light. We have to ourselves what's called a soul chain that connects the spirit or soul to the physical body. When that chain gets cut, that's when we die. Souls that linger and don't get properly exercised by _shinigami _have that soul chain eat away until there's a hole in their chest, and then they become corrupt and empty, and like that monster chasing us back there, consumed by their loneliness and hunger."

"And do they normally chase people like that?"

Sarah frowned and shook her head. "So you know that people like you and myself that have had those common Other world experiences return from those experiences with a bit of magic attached to ourselves, and that makes us much more sensitive to those things beyond the human plane of existence, which is why you see the Hollow and _shinigami_. _Shinigami _themselves work with what they call spiritual pressure. It's...like the amount of energy you can focus around your soul. Humans have this as well, but we call them mediums or people who communicate with the dead. But the world of _shinigami _and the world of the Others are two totally different things.

"That being said, I need to explain this: magic and spiritual pressure particles, from what I've been lead to believe, are ninety-nine point nine percent almost the exact same at a molecular and functioning level. Hollow and _shinigami _see magic and process it the same way they would spiritual pressure particles, and we do the same with spiritual pressure. If a Hollow were to see someone with a high concentration of magic, it would surmise that was a person of high spiritual pressure radiation, and look on them as a meal. It's what they do: they eat the souls of those with high spiritual pressures to ease the ache of loneliness inside."

Jenny let out a breath, a wave of sympathy suddenly overcoming her heart for the large beast Madarame had destroyed.

"The problem is not only should it not be a Hollow after you for your magic (which I don't think it was, but I can't rule out all possibilities), but with a Hollow _that _large, and with as little magic as you and I have surrounding ourselves, that thing shouldn't have been after us. We shouldn't even have _registered _on its radar. We're small fries compared to everything else out there. I don't understand how it could have found us and why it would even bother attacking." Sarah was shaking her head, her brow furrowed with rough consternation. "It just doesn't make any kind of sense..."

Sarah trailed off, and Jenny took the opportunity to voice an option that had just come to mind: "What if its someone from the _shinigami_ and Hollow world working with the Other world?"

Sarah stopped dead in her tracks.

Jenny turned to look at her. "Well...its a possibility. I found the book with its power from the Other world...and now a Hollow finding us when it shouldn't have been able to? Don't you think its a little bit too much of a coincidence?"

Her dark green eyes were narrowed on Jenny as she talked, one hand on her hip.

There was a heartbeat or two of total silence.

"Well?"

Without replying, Sarah pulled out her cellphone.

Jenny frowned, annoyed. "What are you doing? Were you not listening to me?"

"I _was _listening," Sarah replied. "And now I'm calling headquarters. If they send another Hollow after you, I'm going to need better support..."

* * *

Another mile up the road, they came across a small line of stores, including a motel and bar and grill. Sarah ordered two rooms side by side with a connecting door and paid for them on what looked like a company credit card. She then escorted Jenny to their room and handed her a key, instructing her not to lose it. Inside, it was fairly bland and plain with an attempt for a homey atmosphere. There was a television, two queen sized beds, floral sheet to match the flower vases painted on the hangings on the wall, a mirror and a mini bar next to the bare bathroom. 

"We're going to have to hang low for about a day or two. Once I get the phone call of the all clear at your school, I should have a new vehicle delivered. Until then, think of this as home sweet home. I expect you to be vigilant and careful while here."

Jenny threw her bag onto one of the beds to claim it as her own and stripped off her large sweater. "While I'm being vigilant, can I be vigilant and clean?"

Sarah removed her jacket, revealing her sweat ridden blouse and the gun holster strapped around her torso. "Be my guest. Just don't make me have to come in there guns blazing."

* * *

She came out of the shower feeling like she had just peeled off her old skin. Her cheeks were still slightly flushed, her hair was plastered to her neck, and her clothes stuck to her skin, but it was still a major improvement. She stepped out to find Sarah also changed into simple jeans and simple shirt. She was sitting on the end of her bed, holding in her hands Jenny's copy of The Labyrinth. 

"Sorry," she said, without looking up. "It was sticking out of the top of your bag...and it's been so long since I've seen it."

Jenny frowned.

"Suffice to say I've had some experience with the story." She absently ran her fingers over the cover, the same way Jenny had when first receiving it. "It's how I know not to say the right words."

Jenny remembered the encounter in the diner, and somehow immediately understood. "You mean he's real?"

"More real than you could imagine." Sarah whispered so lightly, Jenny wondered if she was speaking to her or herself. Then she looked up, meeting Jenny's eyes. "Did you think it only coincidence it was goblins in your room, and not fairys or gnomes?"

"I...was more concerned about the fact that they were there. I just assumed that there was power to the book, not necessarily there was someone controlling the power."

"Not controlling. It's _his _power. But who did he think you were going to wish away?"

Jenny sat for a moment, thinking. "Maybe..."

Before she could finish, there was a slight shift in the air and a commotion rang outside. Sarah checked her watch. "Hopefully that's our reinforcement."

She stood and headed for the door, prepared to open it for the arrival when the commotion outside seemed to increase suddenly.

"Forgive me," a female voice rang out. "If there's a problem with my having stepped on your toes, I'll by you a new set later."

Sarah stopped short of the door. "No. Oh, no..." she said, shaking her head.

There was a brief knock and then the motel door swung wide open. Jenny wasn't sure what surprised her more: that this strawberry blonde was supposed to be a native from Japan, that she even knew enough American english with a flawless American accent, or that she didn't fall over from the sheer oversized weight of her own bra size.

"Sarah-_chan_!" the blonde rang out happily. "Long time no see!"

Sarah moaned and hid her eyes. "Oh dear God..."

"It's been so _lo--ong_ since I came to America!" she exclaimed, embracing Sarah so hard, Jenny worried she would suffocate the brunette in her cleavage. "I love it here! So down home and real! And the booze! Don't even get me started with the whiskey and the wines and burbons! It's like heaven, only on earth!"

"Excuse me for a moment," Sarah ground out as she headed into the bathroom, her cellphone in hand.

"Matsumoto Rangiku," the strawberry blonde said, holding out her hand to Jenny. "But any friend of my dear Sarah's can call me Ran-chan! _Yoroshiku_!"

"Lucas! Is my sanity some kind of sick joke to you?!"

* * *

_First things first, I don't own anything. I don't own Forbidden Game (L.J. Smith does), Labyrinth or the characters in it (Jim Henson and Lord Lucas do), or any of the characters or monsters from Bleach (that's Kubo Tite). The only thing I own is the insane plot that has somehow merged these three worlds together in a thing I should call overkill._

_I am absolutely nuts for doing this thing. Something must have fell on my head or whut..._

_Anyhoo, all of our main characters are here; now comes the hard part: incorporating our sexy as ell main villains. _


	5. Cruel, I Don't Know Why

"Well, that doesn't sound so good," Rangiku mentioned, motioning her head toward the highly raised voice of Sarah as she verbally tore that Lucas fellow a new asshole, and with a good amount of graphic detail, from the comfort of the bathroom. "You'd think she wasn't happy to see me..."

Jenny stared at the woman, her jaw slack and hanging open. Just who, or what was this woman who dominated a room by sheer presence alone?

"Eh? Do I have something on my face?"

Jenny blushed awkwardly and looked away. "Sorry...it's just...you're...so beautiful..."

The woman smiled brightly, sticking her chest out even further with the pride of a peacock. "Don't knock yourself. You're quite the cutie yourself with that golden hair and big green eyes."

_...eyes as green as the Nile..._

"I probably should have introduced myself properly, anyway. I'm the lieutenant of the 10th Division of the Thirteen Protection Squads of Soul Society."

Jenny gaped wildly. "You're one of _them_! A _shinigami_?"

"Brains _and _beauty!" the blonde declared, squeezing Jenny to her. "That's the best!"

Rangiku released Jenny when she realized the smaller blonde was starting to gag slightly from lack of air between Rangiku's boobs. It always seemed to happen whenever someone faced forward when she hugged them. Why no one ever bothered to turn their heads was beyond her. "But..." Jenny wheezed. "...I can see you...you're not all ghostly like the other two...like the Hollow..."

"I'm in a _gigai_, an artificial body. Think of it like a mannequin with a soul while I'm here on earth."

Sarah finally came out of the bathroom seven minutes later, looking haggard and defeated. "All right, so my higher-ups have informed me that this isn't a glitch in the system...you're my official back-up."

Rangiku frowned. "Your group isn't that incompetent."

Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose. "That's not it...I distinctly remember turning in my last mission statement with distinct outlined instructions that should I ever require Soul Society reinforcements, that it not be a certain second in command from the 10th Division But apparently, that same report was turned in to the higher ups with a significant amount of pink ink that suggested there was no one else I'd like to work with." She shot a sharp glare at the _shinigami_.

Rangiku looked confused. "I thought that was your pen."

"It was! But I don't use it on my reports!"

"You should. It's a great pen."

Sarah threw her hands in the air, growling slightly. "That's not the point! I specifically wanted someone other than--never mind! _Never mind_! I've been driving almost seventy two hours straight, I've been chased down by giant swords and monsters, had a reunion with goblins, and I'm fucking tired! I'm going into the next room, I am lying down, and taking a goddamn nap! I want silent and quiet--here, here is the company credit card." She rumpled through her purse and thrust the card into Rangiku's hands. "Go shopping, buy out a whole store, get some lunch, I don't care, but I want six hours of uninterrupted sleep, starting right now!"

Whirling away, Sarah stormed into the connecting room, bolting the door shut behind her.

Rangiku, looking not the least bit perplexed, stuck the card between her breasts and turned to the main door. "You coming?" she said to Jenny over her shoulder.

* * *

While Sarah was exhausted to the bone, she still wasn't even close to dozing five minutes later. She had heard the two ladies in the next room talking for a moment, the door open and close, then silence. So they were gone, and she was alone, and that was good; with no noise, she could concentrate on sleeping. 

But sleep remained elusive. Every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was the red leather book with the golden title that had functioned throughout so much of her teenage years.

Truth be told, there wasn't a day that went by when she didn't have at least one moment of thought concerning The Labyrinth. But it was in passing now, like remembering a trip to Disney Land from when she was five. The details had gotten fuzzy over the years, from the specific scent of the Bog to exactly what it was she had given the dwarf to get him to lead her a little further. She hadn't even bothered to try calling in later weeks and months though they had told her she could. Calling the strange creatures back into her life would have made the whole adventure, made the Goblin King...

...real.

She shuddered under the stale sheets of the hotel bed, rolling onto her other side, reminding herself whenever possible not to think of _him _in particular.

_Jareth_...

There was a little nagging sense of guilt about never again reaching out to the creatures of her journey to come visit her again, but once the adventure was done, Sarah had determined it all a major fantasy designed to give her the appropriate kick in the ass that would wake her up to the facts of her life: she wasn't a fairy tale princess anymore, and maybe she never had been. She was on the brink of adulthood, with more responsibilities, and a future not shrouded in mythology and daydreams in the local park. Clinging to any hint of her childhood would only retard her growth.

So she had left it all behind for cliques, sexy clothes, night clubs and mind altering drugs. That is until the organization found her and confirmed what she had always thought but never voiced aloud: the Labyrinth, its inhabitants, her quest, and, more importantly, its ruler, had been real.

She had been nineteen at the time and then it had been the rationale of: what's the point? After so many years of ignoring that other world, the only friends she had made in her lonely adolescence, how could she ask them into her life now when she hardly recognized herself, looking into the mirror? With tight, but sad, resolve, she closed that part of her life and plunged head on into a career of preventing people from making the same mistakes she had.

And she was successful with her job. She was one of the top field agents sent out to take care of magical loopholes and Other worldly escapees. She made enough to make a comfortable living for herself, enough to spoil her little brother rotten, and enough to purchase the sleeping pills when the dreams started.

Like most of her nightmares, she could never remember the clear details, but she remembered the more important implications: the sense of choking, her lungs swelling in her chest, sweat rolling down her bare skin, the air impermeable, something tickling her spine and the husky, accented voice in ear. Always she woke at thirteen past midnight, and the symbolism was not lost on her. Let the Goblin King piss and moan from his filthy throne in his filthy castle and try to intimidate her.

She had won. All she had to do was keep her power.

Easier said than done.

* * *

Jenny laughed at the photos in the wallet, ranging all the way from a short little boy with snow white hair glowering while a taller girl next to him gave him bunny ears, to two men (one blond with thick bangs over half his face and another with what looked like a 69 on one cheek) half collapsed on each other with ruddy cheeks and cups in hand, obviously drunk. 

"You should have seen Kira at the end of that night," Rangiku laughed while waving the bartender over. "He ended up on top of the 6th Division headquarters with just his underwear singing, oh, what's her name...Dijon?"

"Celine Dion?" Jenny prompted.

"That's the one! Another Long Island Iced Tea," she told the bartender. "And don't hold back on the Long Island. Sure you don't want anything?"

Jenny shook her head. "I'm still under aged."

"When you look like this," Rangiku said, adjusting her chest, "you normally don't get asked any questions."

_Right..._"So who's this one?" Jenny asked, pointing to the boy.

Rangiku's face brightened. "That's my captain! My little Shiro_-chan taichou_!"

"Shiro...?"

"Short for Toushiro."

"Oh...he looks so young to be a captain!"

"He's a prodigy, a reborn celestial angel or something...I slept through half the introductory course." She finished off the rest of her first tea just as the bartender returned with her second. "A little genius, though, that one. And has the cutest little crush on that girl there, Hinamori! He thinks no one sees it, though, but the way he hung over her hospital bed after the insurrection...it would have broken your heart."

"Is she all right?" Jenny asked, concerned.

"She's fine now. Just..." Rangiku tapped her temple, indicating some mental affliction. "Her captain betrayed Soul Society, almost killed her with his own sword." Rangiku frowned. "I think the realization that the man she half-loved had betrayed us was too much and she broke a little bit trying to rationalize it."

Suddenly feeling awkward, Jenny skimmed down the rest of the pictures, finding one a great deal older than the rest. It was white and tannish, torn around the edges, aged, but still in good condition. Rangiku, younger, with her hair cut down to her shoulders, was posed like an old fashioned western prostitute with tassels and beads accenting her lavish skirt and long legs on a barstool. Jenny was too struck by the proposed age of the picture to be concerned with who the other figure might be.

"Is this...authentic?" She pointed. "Were you really in the old west?"

Rangiku took one look at the picture, and the previous sparkle in her eye went out. She smiled, but sadly. "It was...we were supposed to be on a training mission, but we decided we were going to have more fun elsewhere..."

_We...?_

Jenny glanced back at the photo, and studied the second figure. It was a man, tall and lean, against the bar itself dressed in loose fitting clothes, a cowboy hat pulled down over his eyes, and a secretive smile playing on his face.

"Co-worker of yours?"

Rangiku almost laughed. "You could say..."

Jenny stared. There was so much unspoken in those words. A lover? Unrequited love? A deceased sibling or family member? She would have asked, but when not a moment later Rangiku put the Long Island Iced Tea to her lips and gulped the rest of it down faster than it took to take a breath, she decided against it and searched desperately for a new subject.

"How did you and Sarah meet?"

"She tried to kill herself."

Jenny's mouth fell open. This wasn't much better than asking about the man in the photo.

"_Shinigami _have range over the souls of the dead. Not only are we dead, but we exercise various demented souls, and give guidance to the broken ones. I happened to be roaming when I found Sarah's. She had tried to overdose. Her body was on the way to the hospital, and her soul was resting nearby. Luckily the chain hadn't broken, but she wasn't the least bit interested in returning. She just seemed so lonely, I couldn't just leave her, especially when her death was premature. So I took a seat next to her and we started talking. I held onto her soul long enough for the paramedics to bring her back. I would have visited her again while she was in the hospital, but that was when her organization found her. Whatever they told her then gave her the initiative enough to get up and start her life again."

Rangiku smiled. "I think seeing her little brother again helped, too."

"She doesn't seem...uh...that pleased to see you."

The boisterous strawberry blonde laughed. "Sarah may be a little rough on the edges, but she's a good person. She's just got her own way of working with people. It's hard, especially when you were the type of person no one really understood or bothered to get as a child or as a preteen. On top of that, her mother was a narcissistic, self-involved piece of work, and her poor father could hardly voice his opinion let alone his feelings. Then in walks a step-mother with a new baby boy who just wants to understand a young woman who doesn't want to understand her. Makes for trouble, see what I mean?"

Jenny couldn't really see or understand, but she sympathized.

"Sure, she's rough, but that's just Sarah. Once you get used to that, it makes getting along with her alot easier."

Jenny swallowed. There was something she wanted to ask, something that had been nagging at the back of her mind. "Sarah once said that...she was like me. That she had had an experience like mine, with the Other world." She glanced up at Rangiku.

The _shinigami _woman just smiled and shook her head. "That's Sarah's story to tell, not mine. Bartender!"

* * *

_The white dress clung like a second skin. Unlike the fairy tale gown of puffed sleeves and full skirts and pearls adorning the lace of the bodice, this white pleather number made mockery of the princess-like dream the fabric had been. The skirt was mid thigh length and made bad habit of creeping up higher and higher the more she moved. Not that she minded too much in her current state. The top was square cut, just enough to give a tantalizing hint of cleavage, and the quarter sleeves hugged the curve of her shoulders like a lover's caress. She had curled her long hair into luxurious waves at Deborah's house and woven fake jewels into the lengths along with a fair amount of glittery hairspray. On top of the dress, she wore a short, long sleeved, sheer over piece. She was a vision in white, a ghostly figure among the many garbed in tight black hose and fishnet and inked skin, but she blended in nicely. Despite the obvious color difference, she was just another lost soul who wanted nothing more than to forget how lost she was._

_The air was heavy with perspiration and heat, cloudy from the fog machines, flashing brightly with the various strobes and colored lights rotating along the length of the ceiling. DJ's were banging their heads to the earsplitting bass of the music; behind them, psychedelic displays pulsed._

_She had lost Deborah and Anthony somewhere along the way, but that was normally the way of things; probably curled up in a dark corner somewhere with their tongues in each other's throats and needles in their arms._

_Sarah wasn't one for the needles; pills were her way._

_So here she was amidst an amoeba of a crowd, the music pounding in her ears, lost in the swirl of her own hips as the drug finally began to slide through her. Suddenly, she wasn't just a lonely girl anymore without any dreams to keep her company; she was elegance and grace, a girl near womanhood, seduction and innocence, untouchable desire._

_She was the virgin sacrifice, the temptation that haunted men's dreams. She danced for everyone and no one._

_The current tune melted into a hard techno sound, and her dance continued uninterrupted._

_The drug was now thick in her system. The fog was like the gossamer wings of fairies, surrounding her._

_She was far above Cloud Nine. No one could have her here._

_Someone else thought otherwise._

_"...**don't give me a piece of your preciousness**..."_

_It took her a full second to recover and realize what was going on when she felt the unfamiliar hands slip around her waist and pull her into a dance against a firm figure directly behind her. Whomever it was moved in perfect sync with hers, like he'd seen her dance before. And Sarah was too far gone to be offended at the unknown's blatant step into her space. In fact, she was starting to like it, this game of not knowing._

_She pressed against the figure as his hands caressed her arms through the sheer fabric, his hips against hers, thighs brushing her bared skin. He was in leather, his body hard and lithe. A professional dancer, maybe. That would explain how he kept to her movements without missing a beat._

_The music itself was a hypnotic beat in her blood. The woman's vocals were too fuzzy to actually hear as the drug sapped at her sense of sound but amplified everything else, especially touch._

_"...**I don't know why**...**don't know why**..."_

_Long, thin, elegant fingers laced with her own, guiding against the still faceless partner. She found herself fascinated by the smoothness of his skin, that which she could touch; like the cool silk lace of her mother's nightgowns, when her mother had still been around. Whatever kind of shirt he was wearing was even smoother under the press of her cheek. Even as she did this, he pressed his face against the curve of her neck, scrapping his teeth along the very tender tendon there, as if she were a lamb beneath the grasp of a very ravenous predator. The slip of leather along her nearly bare legs was so erotic, she almost melted. She was dreamily aware of him: the sharp scent of him, like leather and smoke; tickles on her cheek from the feather-soft hair; the almost imperceptible lick of a tongue against her ear; the hot breath that made her arch every so slightly; the thrust of sharp hips..._

_...a droplet of sweat trailed down between her breasts and her nipples hardened. As if he knew, the dancer her scrapped his elegant fingers slowly over the front of the white dress and she gasped, filling her lungs with the hot air of the club. She could just burst..._

_...she was a fairytale princess again, alone with her prince..._

_"...**my vine twists around your need**..."_

_"Such a pity..."_

_...with the rustic, accented voice of a king..._

_"...**even the rain is sharp like today**..."  
_

_"...aren't you paying attention, Sarah?"_

_...but not just _any _king..._

_...how would he know my name?_

...the king... _  
_

_"...**as you sh-sh-shock me sa-ne**."_

_...the king with the impossible eyes and impossible white blonde hair and impossible beauty that had caught her breath as a youth and now caught her heart in her throat and drowned out the blood pounding in her ears as he smiled that arrogant smile of a monarch, a flood of forgotten memories flashing through her mind, too quick to grasp, eroding the drug taken for moments just like this when the man of her dreams and nightmares made her weak in the knees and reminded her just how precarious her power was when he looked at her like that and pressed a pale hand to her throat, pressing, while she struggled to summon the words to banish him away again, but now the female vocals were penetrating..._

_"...**I can be cruel**...**I don't know why**..."  
_

_"...eyes--can be so cruel..." she gasped and the Goblin King smiled even wider at her and she saw just how sharp a Goblin King's teeth could get. _

_"...**I don't know why**..." _

_"Aren't we all?"_

* * *

"...I can be--"

Sarah sat upright, nearly choking on the words.

* * *

_First things first, I don't own anything. I don't own Forbidden Game (L.J. Smith does), Labyrinth or the characters in it (Jim Henson and Lord Lucas do), or any of the characters or monsters from Bleach (that's Kubo Tite). The only thing I own is the insane plot that has somehow merged these three worlds together in a thing I should call overkill._

_This chapter is for the Labyrinth buffs. Sorry it took so long, but anyone who's ever done it knows that to do SEXY properly (you hope, anyway) it takes time. Hopefully the next chapter will come a little faster, but please don't hold your breath._

_Hope everyone has enjoyed reading, and thanks for sticking it out so far..._

_P.S. The song is "Cruel" by Tori Amos. Listen to it if you can. It is sexy in that eerie kinda way. _


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